Kormak Westley
Physical Description Kormak is 6'0", 200 lbs. He has shaggy reddish brown hair heavily peppered with gray. His eyes are gray in color. Years of stress have aged Kormak prematurely, causing him to look ten to fifteen years older than he actually is. When in the safety of the Cradle, Kormak typically wears light leather armor over jeans and a t-shirt, but when conducting official Resistance business he wears a black suit of reinforced body armor, similar to the kind worn by patrol enforcers, but less bulky. Personality Kormak is a very complex man. By nature is friendly, loving, and kind, but the role he has been forced to take on has steeled him quite a bit. He is a charismatic leader and his followers love and adore him, but he is a hard man who can be cold and distant when the situation requires. After all the time that has passed he is still in love with Lessan and feels that letting anyone get to too close to him would be a betrayal of her memory. He is also afraid that happiness will weaken his resolve and set him up for more anguish. History Kormak was raised by a prosperous mill owner named John Westley in the town of Vellenvale along with three other orphans. The miller was an heir less widower and raised the orphans with the help of servants. His parents died while he was a baby and he has no memory of them. The miller treated Kormak with respect and gave him his surname, but there relationship was more like that of an employer and employee rather than that of a father and son. John was determined to find There wasn’t a lack of love in his childhood, despite having no parents and a distant benefactor. He and his orphan siblings were all very close and became a second family to one another. Later on in life they would be some of the first members of the Resistance. Growing up working on the mill, he became an amiable and resourceful young man. He was skilled in the day to day operations at the mill and excelled at organization and team management. On his sixteenth birthday he was officially made John Westley’s heir and put in charge of John’s property in Vellenvale, while he retired to Seaside. At the age of eighteen, Kormak met Lessan Kindale, a daughter of a family of respected magical craftsmen. The two met one night by chance at the Carnival in Vellenvale and became inseparable from that point on. They soon married and settled down in his childhood home in Vellenvale. It was Lessan who first introduced Kormak to magic and who later recognized that he had been born gifted with the Truth Sensing ability. Many members in the Kindale family used magic to create the various art objects that had become some of the most sought after items by the wealthy. They were especially known for their tapestries and rugs, which had spells woven into them to make them impervious to stains and dust. Lessan was more ambitious, however, and began experimenting with more powerful and forbidden magics. The rest of the story is known to many, and recorded in the histories in as many different variations. The truth is that Lessan began what we now call the Resistance, and her life was taken because of it. She began speaking out against the overly restrictive laws put in place on magic. She felt that the current administration was attempting to enslave magic for their own diabolical plans.Martyred by an ambitious Coalition Enforcer while speaking to a crowd of sympathetic Union City inhabitants, she became the symbol of the resistance, and the motivation for Kormak Westley's violent uprising. Now Kormak leads a guerrilla war against any Coalition official. They are to be killed any time there is an opportunity. He has tried to increase his own skill in magic to fight his enemies, but it seems he doesn't have much talent. He has encouraged the development of magical powers among his followers, and plans to approach the witches of Pantook to try and form an alliance with them. Vellenvale is currently under Coalition control, and the Resistance has been forced to hide in the mountains to the West of Kormak's home town. Known as the Cradle of Lessan, the Resistance has taken up residence in the ruins a massive fortress within one of the mountains. The Cradle is cloaked using magic and is defended by some of the strongest magic users the Island has to offer. There are many agents of the Resistance throughout the land. A plan to retake Vellenvale and its resources is currently under discussion. Kormak plans to retake his old home as soon as the time is right. Story Title An Agent of Change